The
Maharashtra Government on Friday filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the
Supreme Court seeking leave to appeal against the interim order passed by the
Bombay High Court in a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs), staying the
implementation of the controversial decision of the erstwhile Congress-NCP Government
in Maharashtra to provide 16 per cent reservation to Marathas in government
jobs and educational institutions and 5% reservations for Muslims in Government
service.
The Public Interest Litigations challenging
reservation for the Marathas and Muslims were filed before the Bombay High
Court by noted journalist and social activist Ketan Tirodkar, an NGO - Youth
for Equality, Anil Thanekar and I S Gilada of Indian Health Organisation and
others.
Journalist Ketan Tirodkar contended
in his petition that Marathas have been wrongly categorised as socially and
educationally backward. The petition claims that Marathas are not a caste, they
comprise a linguistic group, and that Marathas are a dominant community, not a
backward one. 52% seats in government jobs and educational institutions were
already reserved for the targeted groups and the Congress-NCP government had,
in the run up to the Assembly poll, raised it to 73 per cent by announcing 16
per cent quotas for Marathas and five per cent for Muslims, he alleged.
Admitting the batch of Public
Interest Litigations, a Bench of the Bombay High Court headed by Chief Justice
Mohit Shah had said that the Supreme Court had already laid down the law that
reservation cannot exceed 50% of the total seats. The Bombay
High Court Court was of the view that the comparative data provided by the government
justified its decision to introduce reservation for Muslims in government
educational institutions. The Bombay High Court justified its reasoning to that
effect, citing "abysmally low"
educational achievements and the need to draw the (Muslim) community into the
"mainstream of secular
education". The Court however, excluded private educational bodies
from the purview of reservations for the minority community in educational institutions.
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| Defending the Government's reservation policy, Maharashtra Chief Minister said 'We will take measures to ensure that the quota remains' |
The
Bombay High Court, went on to list the matter for further hearing on January 5.
Following
the order passed by the Bombay High Court,
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said: "The state government is fully supportive of the Maratha quota.
We will appeal in Supreme Court on the High Court ruling. We will take measures
to ensure that the quota remains. If
the court has pointed out any discrepancy in the law, we will remove any
lacunae in it during the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur."
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"If the court has pointed out any discrepancy in the law, we will remove any lacunae in it during the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur." - Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis
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Apart from the portion of the
Bombay High Court’s interim order staying the Government’s move to provide 16
per cent reservation to Marathas in government jobs and educational
institutions, the Maharashtra Government will also impugn in the SLP, the High
Court’s order staying the Government’s decision to provide reservation to
Muslims in Government service.
Education Minister Vinod Tawde said Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, Advocate
General of Maharashtra, Sunil Manohar and senior lawyer Darius Khambata would
argue the SLP on behalf of the Maharashtra Government.
